Fleeting Nostalgia
by VixenReborn
Summary: London, 1867. We saw snow yesterday and I actually felt myself grow a little nostalgic. My mind keeps going back to two years ago when we first met. With the crisp chill in the air it almost makes it seem more like yesterday.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar**

**A/N: This is one of the only prompts I managed to complete at just under a thousand words, however, I felt that it covered everything I wanted to and grew heavily concerned with ruining the actual content if I tried to add any further. Feedback on this would be very highly appreciated. **

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England 1867,

Journal entry.

This time of year, the air grows chilly. The long coats finally seem like a good idea. I still hate the constant changes in fashion, but at least if we don't like anything it's just a matter of waiting a while before its gone again.

We saw snow yesterday and I actually felt myself grow a little nostalgic. My mind keeps going back to two years ago when we first met. With the crisp chill in the air it almost makes it seem more like yesterday.

A fresh faced sixteen year old boy and I then a man of twenty. He was the sheltered monk finally allowed out into the world and I was the runaway prince hiding from duty. I remember my eyes having been drawn to him with his strange tattoos and bald head. It had to be the strangest thing I had ever seen. When he actually faced me, his silver eyes met mine and I saw in them a look of innocence and goodness that I had begun to fear existed no longer. Even the eyes of children in London seem filled with scorn and appeared jaded at such young ages too. However, in him, I saw only bedazzlement and wonder. I found myself captivated and knew I had, no more that I must, speak with him.

It was a complete shock to discover that he had no knowledge of the royal family. It was easy enough to pass myself off merely as a servant of mine. I wanted his view on things. I wanted him to speak to me as if we were equals and I wanted him not to merely see my royal title and tell me what I wanted to hear. I know now, that it would never have been like that. Though to this day, he is still unaware of who I really am.

On that cold and snowy day we walked around the deck of the ship. The both of us tightly bundled in our coats against the chill air. It's like I can still hear our boots squeaking against the deck. In his excitement he paid no heed to where he placed his feet and slid into the rail. When I saved him from going over the rail of the ship and he offered me a job to be his own man servant I was speechless, but I was a runaway with quickly dwindling supplies. I took him up on it and I have never looked back till this day.

I saved him that day as I have been doing these last two years. In his great excitement, I often find him forgetting important things. He seems to make careless mistakes that I find myself cleaning up after. It always seems like I'm getting him out of some trouble or another. In the first year, I had told myself that it was merely for my own chance to see the world and be able to have pocket money with out having to resort to my family. I learned how wrong I was. His ability to continually risk it all and his love of life and everything has infected me. I find my own self now making several similar mistakes.

I often have to remind myself to try and plan and remember things where he wont. I must be the one to keep things in mind instead of just rushing in like he does. The sheer amount of joy he shows at each new adventure though still takes my breath away. I find myself forgetting everything just to chase after him.

This lifestyle and all the challenges it has brought with it just to keep him safe. My own little failed adventurer. I can't regret any of it. I don't mind that I am the servant and he is the master, because while that may be a fact, he has never treated me as anything, but an equal. Something I have wished for my whole life.

Now that he is eighteen and turning into a man, I find myself wondering how much longer our adventure can continue. How much longer might I be able to remain at his side with the pretense of being his servant? If he discovers who I truly am... I dare not think about it. For now, I am content to live for the next adventure, which it seems we shall be going on very shortly.

Master has just informed me that our next trip takes us to the waters of the Nile. I have not seen the sands of Egypt before, but I can say with all confidence that I would rather not if he was not by my side. Here is to hoping that the warm desert air may shake the lingering chill and worry that England has given me.

The Self Exiled Prince.

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FN: Prompt: A failed adventurer (#20 of 50)


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